E-rate Window Opens Jan 11

The 2018-2019 Form 471 filing window opens on Jan. 11, 2018 and closes on March 22, 2018, which is much earlier than previous years. This impacts several things, including estimating connectivity needs and contracts, as well as updating your profile with the new Free and Reduced Lunch student count figures posted. Although you can use the same Free and Reduced lunch figures if you wish, you will need to plan now for your bandwidth needs.

Our experts are here to help you talk through your anticipated technology changes to ease the burden of anticipating and ensuring your bandwidth needs. Planning ahead now and will help us to help you leverage the full benefits of E-rate funding for your connectivity. Let us know how we can help you plan ahead and ensure you have the bandwidth your users need for fiscal year 2019 (through June 2019).

The latest free and reduced lunch figures from 2017 can be found when you scroll to the bottom of this DESE webpage.

If you do choose to use different data, FCC will contact you during Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) review to validate your numbers. Contact Chris Schneider at (573) 882-8429 or schneider@more.net to provide you a validation letter. Many schools and libraries will find that it's only worth the work to update figures if it yields a higher discount.

To help you navigate all your E-rate questions, we are offering free E-rate training sessions in January and February. Register for one of the following courses by visiting our training schedule.

Getting Started with E-rate training will be offered on the following dates at our MOREnet Office in Columbia, from 8:30 a.m. to Noon. Content for each training is the same, so select the date that works best for you.